A small business project manager is responsible for juggling multiple ongoing tasks, prioritizing objectives and responsibilities and making sure finances and human resources are appropriately allocated to projects most likely to be financially beneficial to the organization. With limited resources at her disposal, a project manager must have a firm understanding of the company’s goals, as well as be able to think and react quickly while under pressure.

Project Planning

Detailed project planning can help a small business project manager stay focused and on task. Careful project planning that utilizes the critical path method allows a project manager to prioritize tasks that are essential to keeping the entire project on track. This includes building in deadlines and review periods which can assist a project manager in determining the ongoing viability of the project in stages. It gives her the ability to make changes as necessary to ensure resources are allocated in the most beneficial way possible throughout the course of the project. Project planning also helps keep all personnel in the loop, which can help facilitate effective communication.

Project Management

Effective and consistent project management can help a project manager stay on top of every undertaking to ensure projects stay on track, on time and on budget. This may include regular progress reviews, requesting project updates from staffers or creating spreadsheets and flowcharts to demonstrate levels of project completion. Solid project management ensures both human and financial resources are being funneled toward areas of greatest need and offer the greatest potential return on investment for the company.

Prioritizing

Some aspects of small business project planning and prioritization are self-evident. For example, if you're launching a new branding initiative, the cost and manpower necessary to create a new logo would automatically be prioritized over ordering new corporate letterhead, because you can't do the latter without first completing the former. Other elements of project prioritization and allocation of resources are based on what resources the project manager has at her disposal. For example, if you have three major graphic design projects in the pipeline and only one graphic designer on staff, those projects will typically be staggered to best utilize the time and ability of the single staff resource.

Flexibility

Circumstances can change rapidly in a small business, and a good project manager must be flexible in how she responds to changing conditions and reallocates resources as necessary. For example, if the company loses a major client that impacts the budget for a particular project, a good project manager should be able to reassess direction, scale back when necessary, and rework the project plan in such a way that it remains viable but works within the reduced budget. Likewise, if a key staffer quits unexpectedly, a project manager should be able to reallocate responsibilities to other appropriate parties, or quickly fill in the absent role with another qualified staffer.

Resources

About the Author

Lisa McQuerrey has been a business writer since 1987. In 1994, she launched a full-service marketing and communications firm. McQuerrey's work has garnered awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the International Association of Business Communicators and the Associated Press. She is also the author of several nonfiction trade publications, and, in 2012, had her first young-adult novel published by Glass Page Books.